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History · Hartman

Hartman’s post office opened in 1908, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1920.

1908first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How Hartman began

When was Hartman founded?

1908

The Hartman post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 175 in 19202020 census: 56118 years
Founding year: the first Hartman post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hartman’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Hartman are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 269 in 1930; 56 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Hartman’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hartman’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hartman’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Hartman, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 269

Peaked at 269 in 1930; 56 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hartman’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Hartman came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hartman.

Read it all →

A post office called Hartman has been in operation since 1908. The community was named after W. P. Hartman, a railroad official.

The town has one historic site, the old Hartman Gymnasium. The circa 1938 gymnasium is associated with New Deal programs in Prowers County. The building is the only example of Works Progress Administration (WPA) construction in Hartman and one of only a few such projects in the county. Its use as a community center continues to contribute to the social history of Hartman. As of 2026, the town has a post office and no businesses.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hartman, 1908 to 1953

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1908Post officeThe Hartman post office opens
  3. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 269
  4. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Hartman, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Hartman, Colorado2013Hartman, ColoradoCOMap-doton-Hartman2005COMap-doton-Hartman
On the map

Hartman on the map in 1953

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hartman.

Hartman on the 1953 USGS map1953Holly West sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hartman.

Questions about Hartman’s history

What year was Hartman founded?

The Hartman post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.